GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations says it has received reports of 12 Syrian and Iraqi nationals being murdered in the first half of January at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp in northeast Syria, which holds internal refugees and families of Islamic State fighters.
“We are calling on those authorities who control the security in the camp to ensure the safety of residents but also the humanitarian workers,” Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said on Friday.
“All of that delivery is being thrown into jeopardy when the level of security rises to what we see now,” Laerke told a U.N. briefing in Geneva. The camp, controlled by Syrian Kurdish forces, holds 62,000 people from many countries, he said.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
